Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: September 2020
Trends in the use of out of court disposals, defendants prosecuted, offenders convicted, remand and sentencing decisions, and offender histories in England and Wales.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause MoJ to review our data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:
- Cautions data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2020
- First Time Entrants (FTE) data to March 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
- FTE data to June 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
- FTE data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
Statistician’s comment:
The figures published today highlight the impact on criminal court prosecutions and convictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest short-term trends are mostly reflective of the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation rather than a continuation of the longer-term series.
The monthly data shows that following the sharp falls in prosecutions and convictions immediately following the March 2020 ‘lockdown’, these have recovered by September 2020, although not quite to pre-pandemic levels.
Custody rates and average sentence lengths have both increased overall. For custody rates, this is likely to partially reflect the prioritisation in courts of more serious offences since April 2020 – meaning a greater concentration of court time for offences more likely to get a prison sentence. The increase in average sentence lengths continues the trend of the last 10 years, and it is less clear from the monthly data what impact, if any, the pandemic may have had.
Pre-release access
The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:
Ministry of Justice
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Permanent Secretary; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Private Secretary; 5 Private Secretaries; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Chief Statistician; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; 2 Section Heads, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 7 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.
Home Office
Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.
The Judiciary
Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for Criminal Justice for the Senior Judiciary.
Other
Principal Analyst (Justice), Cabinet Office